Tesla has rarely made money since its 2010 IPO, but that hasn't stopped investors from bidding up the company's market cap to $51 billion — more than Ford's, and on a par with General Motors' market cap.

After closing down 2.5% on Wednesday, to $310, Tesla shares were dropping only slightly after-hours, to $308.

Depending on what CEO Elon Musk says when he talks with analysts on a conference call later, the stock could trend lower.

The quarterly loss was certainly large enough to justify investors rushing for the exits, especially after Tesla burned through over $600 million in cash for the quarter (the company has said it will spend $2 billion-2.5 billion for the year, so it's on pace).

But the takeaway from another dismal quarter for earnings seems to be that Tesla's statements about its plans to launch its mass-market Model 3 vehicle in July and ramp production to 10,000 cars per week by 2018 has given investors enough confidence to stay the course with the stock.